1. Subodh INGLE
Issues arising due to conflict of interest between top
management and the workforce
Industry- Context
Decision Makers
Policies Relationship

2. Problem Statement
Situating:-
In any organization every employee at any level work towards a common goal that is
the company success. Even though all employees share most goals, often there exist
few goals which are specific and different for employees at different level of chain in
an organization. For instance, top management is more focused towards overall
company profit in terms of revenues and company marketplace etc. whereas normal
employees only strive to perform better in their specific domains. Lower management
employees have less information of company’s global picture. This conflict of interest
sometimes leads to industrial disputes. In this study, we aim to explore further the
issues surrounding the industrial relationships and disputes in India. Industrial relation
is defined as relation of individual or group of employees and employer for engaging
themselves in a way to maximize the productive activities. 1)According to Industrial
Dispute Act 1947(Section 2):- “Industrial dispute means any dispute between
employers and workmen or between workmen and workmen, Which is connected
with the employment or non-employment or the terms of employment or with the
conditions of labour of any person” This study is more inclined towards lower
management employee interest and expectations.
Grounding:-
Conflict of interest between top management and workforce can sometimes lead to
extreme situation like strikes. Some of the notable examples are Honda motorcycle
violent protest 2004, Jet Airways labour dispute 2008 and Maruti Suzuki strike 2010.
2)In 2004, Honda motorcycle limited Gurgaon first faced “go slow tactics” kind of
strike but management poorly reacted by suspending 50 workers. Things became
worse and resulted in a complete lock out strike. 3)In 2008 something similar
happened when Jet airways sacked 1900 employees as a result of poor management
decision which made one of the most successful domestic airline the butt of jokes in
India. In 2010 Maruti Suzuki Manesar faced even severe consequences by loosing 30
billion Indian rupees when they failed to understand and solved the lower
management issues.
Diagnosing:-
Numerous papers have been published in areas related to industrial relationship and
disputes but they were mostly related to one or few incidents or organizations. Anjuli
Bhargava wrote an article on Jet airways labour dispute and Surinder Kapur,
Chairman of Sona group did research on Honda motorcycle violent protest. We think
there is a research gap to analyse multiple incidents together and look for common
patterns in them.
In this paper, we aim to study several incidents happened surrounding industrial
relationships and disputes. We will try to find out common factors leading to these
incidents and whether such situations were avoidable if proper measures/policies were
in place.

3. Solving:-
The aim of this study is to understand how sometimes conflict of interest between top
management and workforce can lead to extreme situations like strike. What are the
common factors behind such incidents? Are they avoidable?
Thus, the main research question is the following:-
1) What are the issues arising due to conflict of interest between top management
and workforce?
Literature Review:-
In recent years, several studies on Industrial Relations in different work settings have
been conducted. Few notable and relevant studies are presented below:-
4)In 1972, a research in private and public sector Industrial Relations, India was
conducted by Ashok Khurana. His research focused on area such as industrial
conflict statistics, performance, and code of discipline. His findings were that
Industrial Relations in both sectors have progressively ruined during 1962-1968.
Apparently, public sector was more successful comparatively in resolving
industrial conflicts.
5)In 1990, another interesting research on Industrial Relations was performed in
northern state of India (Jammu and Kashmir) by Prof. Gani. Major findings were
that wages and labour allowances plays major role behind industrial disputes.
6)Nibedita Nanda and Prof. Jaya Krushna Panda 2009 in their research found out
another interesting factor behind the sharp rise in industrial disputes. Unsuccessful
implementation of labour welfare schemes and policies was the major factor
behind industrial disputes.
7)Rajni Pathania 2011 another factor behind industrial disputes was highlighted
which was improper negotiation with trade union. Furthermore, this study also
supported conclusion of Khurana that low wages and allowances were common
reasons for strikes.
From all these studies, one common factor that strikes out is that conflict of interest
between top management and the workforce is the major cause of industrial disputes.
This research will be around the same question and will try to find possible remedies.
Our hypothesis is that suitable schemes and policies can be designed keeping in mind
the interest of both top management and the work force which would mitigate
industrial disputes. We would also aim to either come up with such a design our
selves or find existing design which can be used for the same after or without
embellishment.

4. Methodology:-
We aim to follow a mix methodology which is both quantitative and qualitative. The
reason is we aim to answer two main questions.
1. “What are” the issues arising due to conflict of interest between top
management and the workforce? (Quantitative)
2. “How” can we minimize the issues? (Qualitative)
Our main data collection instrument would be documentation in the form of journals,
articles, research studies and company statistics. We also aim to design I structured
questionnaire and collect data through surveys if needed.
We have identified and are in process of indentifying contacts in relevant industries in
order to get to get our hands on realistic industry data. We also aim to implement our
design to mitigate industrial disputes in selective industries though these contacts if
possible. It will be a great opportunity to collect real industrial feedback.
Contribution and Limitation:-
Contribution:-
1) We aim to find out the issues arising conflict of interest between top management
and the workforce.
2) We aim to provide a design/scheme/plan to mitigate these issues.
Limitations:-
1) Limited industrial access:- data that will be collected for the research would be
taken by a couple of industries maximum. Hence, we fear our research might be
specific to selective group of industries rather being applicable to all.
2) Large number of issues handling:- we believe that there are several issues that need
to be taken care in this research study. We might not be able to provide a single
design tackling all the issues at once. We believe we might have to prioritize the
issues and provide a design that handles these prioritized issues.

5. References:-
1) Smirti Chand,(Definition, causes, measures to improves industrial relations)-
Industrial dispute in India.
2) Motorcycle and Scooter India private limited 2008, Labour unrest Honda
Motorcycle and Scooter India pvt ltd.
3) Vivek M.V, Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary 2009, Jet Airways Labour disputes:-
Trade union and India’s labour conundrum.
4) Prof. Ashok Khurana (Kurukshetra and M.D.Univesities 2009-2010, Human
Resource Management)
5) Prof. Gani (The University of Michigan 1990, Indian journal of Industrial
Relation, Volume 26)
6) Nibedita Nanda and Prof. Jaya Krushna Panda, International Journal of
Marketing, Financial Services & Management Research, ISSN 2277- 3622
Vol.2, No. 6, June (2013)
7) Rajni Pathania, Research Scholar Department of Business Economics The M.S.
University Of Baroda Vadodara, Volume 2, Issue 6 (Sep-Oct. 2012), PP 22-26,
390002 Gujarat, India.
8) By Prof. Rahul Varman (Department of Industrial and Management
Engineering, IIT Kanpur)- Maruti Factory that turned violent- Infochange News
and features
9) Michiyo Nakamoto in Tokyo 29th
April 2012, Foreign CEO’s face challenges
in Japan, Financial Times.
10) Tomonobu Tanaka 12th
Aug 2014, Giving/Receiving phrases in Japan, Business
Japanese.
11) Fortune Editors 8th
July 2013, 10 Global 500 CEO strangers in strange lands.